Harry
September 14th, 2005, 22:44
Until I am better educated in dog breeds and temperaments, I won’t address the issues of dogs and their needs, so I’ll just stick with cats for now.
If you are considering taking a pet with you on the road, there are myriad issues that you will need to consider before making this life-long commitment to a companion animal.
As an animal welfare worker, many of the issues we face are from those who got a pet on a whim and wrote on the surrender form “Can’t Keep/Don’t Want” or “Don’t Have Time”
Sometimes, I and other animal shelter workers would really like to deck these people for dumping their discarded pets on us for some of the most idiotic reasons.
If a cat is your choice, consider the needs of this animal and make your choices accordingly. This article is going to advise you on the things I have learned by sharing my cab with some wonderful animals.
First of all, make sure that your carrier allows you to have a pet or if they require you to have a cat de-clawed. If the latter is the case, I am of the opinion that you should do without a pet rather than subjecting it to being de-clawed.
Many cats end up in shelters because they begin eliminating outside the litter box or become overly aggressive after they are de-clawed and sadly, you cannot have the cat re-clawed to correct this behavior.
Imagine if someone amputated the last digit of all your fingers and then expected you to dig in a litter pan with your hands and you will begin to understand what the cat experiences.
If everything is all good with your carrier to have a pet, I urge you-belay that, I BEG you to visit your local shelter or animal control facility and give a pet a second chance.
Millions upon millions of companion animals are killed in animal shelters each year and for the money you would spend versus a purebred, you just won’t do any better than a shelter pet.
I would also point out that the number of behavior and health issues are just about even between purebreds and shelter animals.
Like any other animal, cats need a good, consistent diet and plenty of fresh, clean and safe water each day.
A consistent diet aids a pets nutritional needs and digestion of course but the water is always my biggest concern, here’s why:
Many years ago, I checked into a hotel in Rhode Island and upon doing so, the desk clerk handed me two bottles of bottled water.
“Free samples” I asked to which she explained to me that the local water supply had been contaminated by someone at the water department and was unsafe to drink. She asked me if I hadn’t heard, since it was the biggest story in town.
Having just arrived in town that day, I had no idea.
This is the danger of giving your pet water from the local faucet, as many times, you really have no idea what is the quality of the local water supply.
Stick with bottled water for your pet while you travel.
As dust and pet hair can linger in the cabs air, make sure that your HVAC filters are kept clean. This helps keep air moving and purchase a tabletop air cleaner with a good filter at a department store to assist in keeping the air clear.
You can run these air cleaners off the small power inverters that you would use to power a laptop computer.
In addition, make sure that you empty, wipe and refill the water dish at least twice per day. Ask yourself, if you wouldn’t want to drink it, why would your pet?
For food water dishes, candle bowls with their wide base and shallow capacity are good because they don’t let too much water spill while the truck is moving.
Using a stainless steel feeding bowl with the rubber around the bottom edge is great as well and when both of these types of bowls are placed on a rubber feeding mat, they hardly move at all.
Remember that cats need to scratch and there is nothing quite like seeing the damage that one can do to a piece of your truck that you will have to pay for.
Sisal rope is the best cure for this with some spray-on liquid catnip to entice them. In addition, a laser pointer that many cats love to chase is useful.
What you do is, get the cat interested in the dot, and then track it up to a scratching post or pad wrapped with sisal rope. With enough practice, they will begin to like clawing the sisal rope as opposed to the air seat.
If the clawing in inappropriate areas persists, use a light spraying of a product called “cat away” to discourage them from costing you hundreds of dollars. But don’t use too much as the cab space is small and you don’t want to torture the animal with a smell that they have everywhere.
You can expect that cats will track cat litter around, but if you use a deep-pile doormat, this will trap a good portion of the litter that tracks out of the litter box, making it easy to dispose of.
You will also find little bits of litter on your seat, your bed and the other surfaces that the cat visits-it just can’t be helped. A small vacuum cleaner or air-gun will help move this stray litter outside the cab.
You should also get a soft-side pet carrier because these are less bulky than hard-side carriers are and fold down for easy storage. I have also found soft carriers easier to carry and manage than others are.
Finally, get a good pet food bin from a pet store, buy your litter in plastic buckets and not paper bags.
When things are stored for transit, you would be amazed at the many different ways that these paper bags can be punctured and spill their contents in the hardest areas of the truck to clean.
It costs a little more, but with some frugal shopping and maybe a coupon here and there, it’s well worth in because of the headache you will save yourself later.
Remember two things:
First, dogs have owners and cats have staff. Usually if one wants the best seat, one must first remove the cat from it and cats have their own ideas of propriety.
Second, cats, any other kind of pet along with women, CB radios and trucks all have one thing in common:
You can spend all the money you want on any of the aforementioned things and still not get the end result you want.
With a little planning and consideration of the animals needs, you can at least make the aspect of having a pet with you on the road easier and downright enjoyable.
By Uncle Fester
If you are considering taking a pet with you on the road, there are myriad issues that you will need to consider before making this life-long commitment to a companion animal.
As an animal welfare worker, many of the issues we face are from those who got a pet on a whim and wrote on the surrender form “Can’t Keep/Don’t Want” or “Don’t Have Time”
Sometimes, I and other animal shelter workers would really like to deck these people for dumping their discarded pets on us for some of the most idiotic reasons.
If a cat is your choice, consider the needs of this animal and make your choices accordingly. This article is going to advise you on the things I have learned by sharing my cab with some wonderful animals.
First of all, make sure that your carrier allows you to have a pet or if they require you to have a cat de-clawed. If the latter is the case, I am of the opinion that you should do without a pet rather than subjecting it to being de-clawed.
Many cats end up in shelters because they begin eliminating outside the litter box or become overly aggressive after they are de-clawed and sadly, you cannot have the cat re-clawed to correct this behavior.
Imagine if someone amputated the last digit of all your fingers and then expected you to dig in a litter pan with your hands and you will begin to understand what the cat experiences.
If everything is all good with your carrier to have a pet, I urge you-belay that, I BEG you to visit your local shelter or animal control facility and give a pet a second chance.
Millions upon millions of companion animals are killed in animal shelters each year and for the money you would spend versus a purebred, you just won’t do any better than a shelter pet.
I would also point out that the number of behavior and health issues are just about even between purebreds and shelter animals.
Like any other animal, cats need a good, consistent diet and plenty of fresh, clean and safe water each day.
A consistent diet aids a pets nutritional needs and digestion of course but the water is always my biggest concern, here’s why:
Many years ago, I checked into a hotel in Rhode Island and upon doing so, the desk clerk handed me two bottles of bottled water.
“Free samples” I asked to which she explained to me that the local water supply had been contaminated by someone at the water department and was unsafe to drink. She asked me if I hadn’t heard, since it was the biggest story in town.
Having just arrived in town that day, I had no idea.
This is the danger of giving your pet water from the local faucet, as many times, you really have no idea what is the quality of the local water supply.
Stick with bottled water for your pet while you travel.
As dust and pet hair can linger in the cabs air, make sure that your HVAC filters are kept clean. This helps keep air moving and purchase a tabletop air cleaner with a good filter at a department store to assist in keeping the air clear.
You can run these air cleaners off the small power inverters that you would use to power a laptop computer.
In addition, make sure that you empty, wipe and refill the water dish at least twice per day. Ask yourself, if you wouldn’t want to drink it, why would your pet?
For food water dishes, candle bowls with their wide base and shallow capacity are good because they don’t let too much water spill while the truck is moving.
Using a stainless steel feeding bowl with the rubber around the bottom edge is great as well and when both of these types of bowls are placed on a rubber feeding mat, they hardly move at all.
Remember that cats need to scratch and there is nothing quite like seeing the damage that one can do to a piece of your truck that you will have to pay for.
Sisal rope is the best cure for this with some spray-on liquid catnip to entice them. In addition, a laser pointer that many cats love to chase is useful.
What you do is, get the cat interested in the dot, and then track it up to a scratching post or pad wrapped with sisal rope. With enough practice, they will begin to like clawing the sisal rope as opposed to the air seat.
If the clawing in inappropriate areas persists, use a light spraying of a product called “cat away” to discourage them from costing you hundreds of dollars. But don’t use too much as the cab space is small and you don’t want to torture the animal with a smell that they have everywhere.
You can expect that cats will track cat litter around, but if you use a deep-pile doormat, this will trap a good portion of the litter that tracks out of the litter box, making it easy to dispose of.
You will also find little bits of litter on your seat, your bed and the other surfaces that the cat visits-it just can’t be helped. A small vacuum cleaner or air-gun will help move this stray litter outside the cab.
You should also get a soft-side pet carrier because these are less bulky than hard-side carriers are and fold down for easy storage. I have also found soft carriers easier to carry and manage than others are.
Finally, get a good pet food bin from a pet store, buy your litter in plastic buckets and not paper bags.
When things are stored for transit, you would be amazed at the many different ways that these paper bags can be punctured and spill their contents in the hardest areas of the truck to clean.
It costs a little more, but with some frugal shopping and maybe a coupon here and there, it’s well worth in because of the headache you will save yourself later.
Remember two things:
First, dogs have owners and cats have staff. Usually if one wants the best seat, one must first remove the cat from it and cats have their own ideas of propriety.
Second, cats, any other kind of pet along with women, CB radios and trucks all have one thing in common:
You can spend all the money you want on any of the aforementioned things and still not get the end result you want.
With a little planning and consideration of the animals needs, you can at least make the aspect of having a pet with you on the road easier and downright enjoyable.
By Uncle Fester